Some things just don’t sell well online, says trader
KUCHING: Has online businesses affected their traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts? After all, the Internet has changed how people shop for goods and services nowadays.
According to e-commerce consumers survey released by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) yesterday, 51.2 per cent of Malaysians use the e-commerce platform to shop and sell online in the past 12 months.
Things purchased online can be anything, from books and household items to fashion accessories to dried foods and clothes.
Once a person has made sense of online shopping it is so easy to do and customers are spoilt for choice. Just a few clicks of the mouse, people can receive their orders right at their doorsteps without having to go to a conventional store.
However, certain things are better bought the traditional way.
A good example is fabrics or new clothes. They are referred to as must-touch or must-feel items. Customers won’t feel confident buying them just by looking at the pictures online.
A Muslim trader at India Street Pedestrian Mall, Mohd Ismail, who sells fabrics and ready-made clothes, said business at his shop has been a bit slow this year.
“For Gawai Dayak and Hari Raya this year, people still came to my shop to buy fabrics and Muslimah clothes, but the number has declined,” he said.
“During the festival seasons, India Street is always full of people, which is a good thing for us traders,” he said, adding that he also ships Borneo-designed fabric to Peninsular Malaysia.
Back to online businesses, he said they do provide convenience, but he believed that the textile industry is less affected by them because customer always want to see and touch the actual fabrics or clothes.
Still, in order to keep up with the current business trend, he has plans to offer new services to his customers, that is, to deliver the fabrics or ready-made clothes to the customers at home.
“These days many people order food online and have it delivered to their homes, so I’m looking into the possibility of doing the same,” he said.
He agreed that running an online business is much easier and cheaper because the expense is lower as there are no rent, staff salaries and utility bills.
“But I don’t want to close my entire shop because it has been in business since my parents’ era, and historical value would be lost if we were to close all the textile shops at India Street.”
Mohd is a father of two and runs his family’s Nizamir Textiles Sdn Bhd. The shop is more than 50 years old and Mohd has run it for the past 20 years.
For the Hari Raya celebration, the shop will stay open today (June 4). It sells all kinds of fabrics, baju kurung, baju Melayu, and garment accessories for adults and kids at affordable prices.
